Gu Qinghan's pretty face was frosty, and Qi Ning sat aside, unable to speak. After a while, he saw a figure dodging outside the door. He glanced at Gu Wenwen and saw Gu Wenwen looking in. He felt funny in his heart.
"You haven't come in yet." Gu Qinghan naturally found out and said angrily: "Are you going to never see each other again from now on?"
Gu Wenwen then came in with a smile and said: "Sister, this time it's because of my brother, don't be angry. Little Marquis, you have returned to Beijing. How was your trip to Xichuan this time? Did you lead the troops to fight? Is it majestic or not?" He did not dare to look at Gu Qinghan, but smiled and said to Qining: "I really regret it now. If I go to Xichuan with you this time, nothing will happen."
Qi Ning only knows that Gu Wenwen owes tens of thousands of taels of silver. What happened is not clear yet. He stood up, cupped his hands and said, "How is your uncle doing these days?"
"Not good." Gu Wenwen said with a bitter face: "You... do you already know about my affairs? Little Marquis, now that you are back, this is great. You must make the decision for me this time. I was screwed."
"Shut up." Gu Qinghan didn't give any face and scolded: "You are greedy and got in on your own. Who can blame you? You have always been so ambitious in doing things. When my father was alive, he said that you have high vision but low hand and are never practical. Even if you don't do it this time, If you fall into this matter, sooner or later you will cause other troubles." He glanced at Qi Ning and said, "I brought him here not to support you. You can clean up later and follow him directly to Kyoto Prefecture. Yamen, go live in the prison."
Gu Wenwen said anxiously: "Sister, are you just watching your eldest brother being imprisoned? Are you my sister? Why are you so cruel?"
Gu Qinghan raised his eyebrows and scolded: "What are you talking about? Am I cruel, or are you cruel? You clearly know that mother is old. After father passed away, mother's body has become weaker and weaker in the past two years. Don't you Maintain your family business well and take good care of your mother, but you have to toss your way from Jiangling to the capital. If you arrive in the capital and work hard, it will be okay, but... But look at what you have done? You are going to be angry to death Mother." At this point, her eye circles turned red again.
Qi Ning had never seen Gu Qinghan so upset, fearing that Gu Qinghan would be hurt, he said softly: "Sanniang, don't be anxious first, don't cause trouble if nothing happens, but if something happens, don't be afraid of it, just try your best to find a way to solve it. "
"Yes, yes, what the young marquis said is true." Gu Wenwen rested half of his butt on a chair, as if he had met a savior, "Sister, eldest brother did something wrong. You even scolded us, but we We have to find a way to solve it. You and I are only two siblings. If I really have a problem, who will take care of my mother?"
Gu Qinghan bit her red lips, stared at him bitterly, and said nothing.
Qi Ning said: "Sanniang, why don't you go see the old lady first, and I'll have a chat with my uncle here."
At this time, Gu Qinghan was angry and worried about Gu Wenwen, and even more worried about Old Mrs. Gu. He stood up without saying anything and went to see Old Mrs. Gu alone.
After Gu Qinghan left, Gu Wenwen took a deep breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, picked up the cold tea at hand, drank it in one gulp, and then said with a wry smile: "Little Marquis, if you hadn't come today, I wouldn't have known what to do with this girl. How to deal with me."
"Uncle, what happened? I heard that you owe tens of thousands of taels of silver outside?" Qining frowned and said, "It was because you lost money in business. I heard that it was related to a painting?"
Gu Wenwen didn't say anything for now, and tiptoed to the door. He looked out and saw that Gu Qinghan's graceful and graceful figure had gone far away. Then he came back and sat down next to Qining. He said with a depressed look: "Xiao Hou Master, this is a trap, someone is fucking trying to plot against me."
"Plotting against you?"
Gu Wenwen said: "Young Master knows that I came to the capital to honor my ancestors. My father has stayed in Jiangling all his life. Although he has some industries, he is timid and cautious and does not dare to expand the business. Think about it, Jiangling is only a big place. How can this place be as prosperous as the capital city?"
Qi Ning just smiled lightly and said nothing.
"I opened three shops in the capital." Gu Wenwen said: "One of them is a pawn shop. I heard people said that you can make a lot of money by opening a pawn shop, so I opened one. If you want to do big things, you have to To employ people, I specially hired an old shopkeeper. This person has excellent eyesight and knows everything about the pawnshop. Yes, this bastard’s surname is Jiang."
Qi Ning thought that Gu Wenwen really had no idea what he was saying. He was praising someone in the first two sentences, but in the last sentence he was calling him a bastard. He asked, "Does this have anything to do with Shopkeeper Jiang?"
"The relationship is big." Gu Wenwen said angrily: "After I arrived in the capital, I inevitably made some friends. These friends are quite generous to me on weekdays. We often get together. One of them is Qiao Yu. He is very talented and knowledgeable, and he is very good at antique calligraphy and painting. Because I own a pawn shop, I get very close to him on weekdays."
"Qiao Yu?" Qi Ning asked, "Who is he?"
"He is a son of an official. I heard that his father became a minor official in the Ministry of Household Affairs." Gu Wenwen said, "I have been to his house. He has a separate house and raised a woman in it. They are all antique calligraphy and paintings, and they also told me the origins of those antique calligraphy and paintings. Some of them are priceless, so...!" His expression was a little unnatural.
Qi Ning sighed: "So your uncle thinks that antique calligraphy and painting are the easiest way to make money?"
"I...that's what I think." Gu Wenwen said with a wry smile: "Qiao Yu also said that apart from some of the antique calligraphy and paintings that he collected himself, many of them were sold for a large price. I asked him to sell them all To whom? He told me that every year, officials from other places come to Beijing to meet with important officials in the court. Many officials will first go to him to buy some antique calligraphy and paintings. They also prepare generous gifts to honor those officials. Shangguan, secondly, if you can buy antique calligraphy and paintings from him, his father can help connect people and have a way to meet those high-ranking officials."
Qi Ning frowned and said nothing. Gu Wenwen continued: "I asked him how much the antique calligraphy and paintings were worth at that time. Qiao Yu told me a lot, telling me that some antique calligraphy and paintings seemed to be valuable, but they were really valuable. If you want to sell it, you won’t be able to buy much money. Only the really big ones can be worth a lot of money. When he saw that I owned a pawn shop, he also told me that I should collect those antique calligraphy and paintings. If I can really get them, I can resell them to him. He will definitely pay. Heavy acquisition.”
"What happened next?"
Gu Wenwen said: "After the pawn shop opened, there were not many people at first, but I was lucky. I did collect a few good things, but they were all dead pawns. I took them to show to Qiao Yu. Qiao Yu said that I was lucky. It was really good. All the money was collected, and in less than a month, the pawnshop only changed hands from the middle, earning five to six thousand taels of silver."
Qining knew that five or six thousand taels of silver was by no means a small amount, so he felt that there was something strange in it. Gu Wenwen continued: "At dusk that day, I was wandering around the pawn shop. When it was about to close, a customer came to the door. I brought two volumes of calligraphy and painting with me.”
Qi Ning knew that this was what happened, and listened carefully, only to hear Gu Wenwen say: "The man looked ordinary, and I thought he wouldn't have anything good at all. Shopkeeper Jiang was also present at the time, and the man said Ask us if we have enough money." He clenched his fists and sneered: "I heard his loud tone, and felt a little unhappy, so he said that as long as it is a good thing, even ten thousand taels of gold is not a problem."
Qining knew that Gu Wenwen was boasting about Haikou.
It is true that the Gu family is a big family in Jiangling. If all the properties of the Gu family are put together, they are worth ten thousand taels of gold. Qining does not doubt it. However, although the stock prices are in Beijing, the real estate and real estate far away in Jiangling are not. Maybe bring them all, and the money on hand, because buying a village and store in the capital is naturally expensive. If you have tens of thousands of taels of silver on hand, it may be true, but if you want to easily take out 10,000 taels of gold, That was of course a bluff.
"When the man heard what I said, he handed over one of the paintings. I heard his loud tone, so I wanted to see what painting it was." Gu Wenwen smiled bitterly and said, "If I hadn't been there that day, maybe I wouldn't have done this. Well, when I saw the painting, I was surprised, Mr. Marquis, do you know whose painting it is?"
Qi Ning wondered how I knew, but said: "It can surprise even my uncle, of course it is not an ordinary painting."
"That's a painting by Han Shengzi." Gu Wenwen said: "You should have heard of Han Shengzi, right? He was a painting saint more than two hundred years ago. When it comes to paintings, everyone knows about Han Shengzi and his painting skills. He is so extraordinary that it is said that any painting he picks can be sold for tens of thousands of taels of silver."
This world is completely different from the history Qi Ning knows. Naturally, he doesn’t know who Han Shengzi is. But after hearing what Gu Wenwen said, he knew that Han Shengzi must be a great person, but a painting can sell for tens of thousands. Two pieces of silver still surprised Qi Ning.
"Although Han Shengzi has outstanding painting skills, it is said that he is not easy to paint. Sometimes he does not paint a painting for several years, and there are very few paintings that have been passed down to the world." Gu Wen said: "Existing in the world No more than ten paintings have been handed down, the most famous of which is the picture of a goddess.”
"Picture of a goddess?"
"That's right." Gu Wenwen nodded and said, "I have often heard them mention that there are two pictures of goddesses. One is the picture of the goddess in the morning dew, which is a painting of the goddess flying into the sky at dawn. The other is the picture of the goddess returning at dusk. It is a picture of the goddess returning to the Immortal Peak at dusk. It is said that the emperor at that time personally ordered Han Shengzi to paint these two pictures. Han Shengzi spent five years of hard work on these two pictures."
Qi Ning thought that Han Shengzi could earn tens of thousands of taels of silver from a random painting. If the painting took five years to paint, it could only be a priceless treasure.
"According to legend, the emperor dreamed of the goddess for several days in a row. He wanted to have the scenes in his dreams painted. At that time, only Han Shengzi had the ability." Gu Wen said: "The emperor sent people to look for him for two years. , they found Han Shengzi, and it took another five years to complete the painting. After it was completed, it was said that the painting was exactly the same as the emperor's dream, so the two paintings became treasures of the palace."
Qi Ning frowned and said, "What was sent to the pawnshop that day was Han Shengzi's picture of the goddess?"
"That's right." Gu Wenwen said, "The painting that man showed is the picture of the Goddess in the morning."
…